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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



THE DIBBERN ESCAPE. 



A CORRECTION, AND FURTHER SUGGESTIONS. 



In your issue of January 1 you head my article as 

 an ''improvement on Keese's " bee -escape, and, 

 further on, follow it up with " Reese's horizontal 

 escape." Now, I am not willing to admit that mine 

 is simply an improvement. I claim the horizontal 

 double-cone escape as an entirely original inven- 

 tion of my own. Except the board, it is entirely 

 unlike the old escape of Mr. R. Mr. Reese will not 

 claim that he invented the double-cone horizontal 

 escape, and would, perhaps, not have thought of 

 his latest had I not sent him a diagram of mine. 

 Now, what is his escape, after all, but a different 

 form of my horizontal double-cone escape? In my 

 private letter to him I stated, " I had failed to place 

 the escape inside the board;" that is, up to that 

 time I had not been able to do so satisfactorily to 

 myself. Since then I have perfected my escape, 

 and claim that my present escape is as far ahead of 

 his lutest as my first was ahead of his old one. I 

 ■will now point out a few objections I have to his 

 supposed improvements on my escape. 



1. It is complicated, and hard to make. 



^. It cuts up the board badly; can not be remov- 

 ed from the board, and can not be used for a honey- 

 protector without boring additional holes. 



:j The board would have to be taken off, and tin 

 nailed on both sides, every time it is exchanged 

 from an escape to an inner cover, and vice verxn. 



4. I have found that an escape with but a single 

 outlet, for only one bee to pass at a time, is not 

 siifticient when many bees are in the supers. When 

 the escape-board is placed right under such supers, 

 the bees become panic-stricken, something like 

 people at a theattr when the cry of fire is raised, 

 and the bees would be liable to become packed and 

 wedged in the escape. It was for this reason that I 

 used two of my single-outlet escapes. 



I have no quarrel to pick with my friend R°ese, 

 from whom 1 have received some valuable sugges- 

 tions, and to whom bee-keepers are indebted for the 

 first practicable escape. Whenever he gets up a 

 better escape, or a real improvement on mine, I 

 will freely "acknowledge the corn." 



During the rtcent summer weather I made nu- 

 merous experiments with my escape. One fine 

 summer day 1 exposed a superful of partly filled 

 sections, and allowed the bees to rob it for a time. 

 When they had fairly got to swarming on it, I 

 quickly put a board on it, with escapes up. It was 

 very interesting to see the bees pouring out of the 

 escapes, and the'frantlc elforts of others to get in. 

 I tried all the different forms of my escape in this 

 way, so I could form some kind of idea as to which 

 was best. Again, I placed supers containing sec- 

 tions, that had been extracted, on strong hives; 

 and when the bees had got fairly at work I placed 

 dift'erent patterns of the escape under them; and 

 invariably the bees were all out of the supers in a 

 couple of hours. All seemed to work well; but I 

 noticed that the bees were more inclined to crowd 

 and become wedged in the single-outlet escapee. 

 Another point I discovered was, that, where the es- 

 cape occupies the bee-space, some care is necessary 

 in putting on the boards so as not to crush any 

 bees directly under the escapes. To overcome 

 thiSB objections I set to work to p3rEect my escape, 

 aid aiT h ive it abjjt all that can be desired. 

 Whan [ wish to do a thing, aad there are no tools 



suitable for doing it, I go to work and invent them. 

 Now, I wanted to cut a round hole, four inches in 

 diameter, out of the center of my escape-boards. I 

 found my Clark bit would expand to only 3 inches. 

 I went at it, and made an extra-flne cutter for it, 

 and I can now cut out "cart-wheels " up to five 

 inches in diameter. I cut out only four-inch holes, 

 as that is as large as I need, and my escape-boards 

 are only V inch thick. Now, when I have my four- 

 inch piece cut out, 1 bore an inch hole through the 

 center, and nail a piece of tin, half an inch larger, 

 and with a hole in the center, to correspond to the 

 one in the wooden piece on it. It can now be re- 

 placed in the hole again, and it is just what I want 

 8S a honey protecor, or inside cover. I now take 

 another piece of tin of the same size, and fasten an 

 outlet escape, of star shape, on it, also a few pieces 

 of tin near the edges, so as to hold the escapes ex- 

 actly in the middle of the hole cut out of the board. 

 The escapes are just % inch smaller all around than 

 the holes, allowing enough room for bees to get out. 

 I make the escapes so as to be shaped like a four- 

 pointed star, as that very nearly fills the hole, and I 

 find that, through four outlets, the bees can get out 

 of the escapes faster than they can get in through 

 the hole from the top. It will be seen that my es- 

 cape now occupies the place cut out of the board, 

 without any projections to get jammed or bees to 

 get killed. More than this, it can be instantly tak- 

 en out at the top, without removing the boatd at 

 all, and the solid plug be put in, and the reverse. 

 The board can also be reversed to match bee spaces 

 in hive or supers, or it could be used without any 

 bc^e-spaces at all. I have about Settled the question, 

 that one center four-point escape is enough, and 

 the best; but should it be found that two such es- 

 capes are necessary, how easy it will be to clip out 

 another hole and use two such escapes! Is there 

 any objection to this cutting up the board? I think 

 not; but I can see several decided advantages. In 

 the first place, as I use these boards directly over 

 the sections I can generally determine when a case 

 is finished, by removing the plugs and looking in. 

 How nice these holes will be in shipping bees, to 

 tack a piece of wire cloth over! also to put a piece 

 of carpet over, just before storing for winter, or to 

 be used to feed through. 



lam now entirely satisfed with my escape; and 

 if any man has any thing better, let him "trot it 

 out." I do not see that any thing better can be de- 

 sired. 



I do not think that bee-keepers in general realize 

 the value of my invention. I trust, however, that 

 none will allow the benefits 1 freely oft'er to " bee 

 escaping" them the coming season. 



Milan, 111., Jan. ti. C. H. Dibbern. 



We styled yours an improvement on 

 Reese's escape because it was an improve- 

 ment ; that is, we meant it was a much bet- 

 ter device. Tne horizontal feature of your 

 escape, it is true, is, so far as we know, entire- 

 ly your own invention. And Mr. Reese 

 does not, if we understand correctly, claim 

 any honors on it. When we put the heading, 

 " Reese's horizontal escape," we meant by 

 that, Reese's modification of your invention, 

 and styled it Reese's in distinction from 

 your original design. We have looked over 

 the horizontal escape, and have come to the 

 conclusion that the construction of yours is 

 better after all. It is simpler, and easier to 

 make. And, friend D., we all thank you. 



